Potato-planter



(No Model.)

1. J. RABB. POTATO PLANTER.

No. 433,031 Patented Ju1y29, 1890.

Mira STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PI'IILIIIPI .I. RABIZ, OF FRANKFORT STATION, ILLINOIS.

POTATO-PLANTER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 433,031, dated July 29, 1890.

Application filed April 25, 1890- Serial No. 349,474. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PHILLIPP J. RABB, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Frankfort Station, in the county of Vill and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Potato- Planters, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference thereon, forming a part of this specifi cation, in which Figure 1 is a top plan view of the potatoplanter. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the center of the hopper and a side view of the bevel-gears underneath it for rotating the pocketed droppingplate, looking toward the forward part of the machine. Fig 3 is a perspective view of the pocketed dropping-plate and a portion of its shaft, and Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the machine.

This invention relates to certain improvements in potatoplanters, which improvements will be fully set forth in the following specification and claim.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the main frame of the machine, made of suitable timbers and provided with an axle P, a pair of traveling wheels J, and a tongue T, to which a team may be attached to propel the machine.

H.is a hopper for holding seed-potatoes, which hopper rests on and is secured to the upper rear sides of the two parallel beams E E, the forward ends of which beams are pivoted to the under side of the frontcross-bar of the frame A, so that their rear ends with the hopper II may have vertical adjustment.

B is a rock-shaft journaled to the top of a cross-bar of the main frame immediately at the rear of the hopper II. This rock-shaft has secured to it the lever L for rotating said shaft, which lever is provided on its side with the latch R for engaging the notched segment K, secured on said cross-beam, which latch has its rear end extended far enough so that it can be operated by the foot of the operator as he rides on seat D. The two ends of shaft B are provided with arms S, that extend forward, one on either side of the hopper II, and are connected at their outer ends with said hopper by means of the links S S, having their lower ends pivoted to the outer ends of the crossbeam Z, secured across the under rear side of the hopper. By means of such connection of the hopper with the rock-shaft B the hopper may be elevated and lowered with the shoe G, which has the rear part secured to the under side of said hopper and its forward end pivoted to the under side of the forward cross-bar of the frame A.

The latch R and notched segment K serve to regulate the height to which it maybe desired to adjust the hopper, reference being had to the character of soil over which the machine is traveling.

a is a circular pocketed rotating droppingdisk, located centrally in the bottom of the floorF and in a corresponding circular recess in the removable floor F, located on the upper side of floor F. This disk to is larger in diameter at its bottom than at its top, and has an inclosing-band i, forming the outer walls of the pockets 1:. These pockets a are larger in area at the bottom than at the top,

so that the seed will the more readily pass through them.

0" is a knife secured in the hoppenbottom in such manner as to overlie a pocket as it moves over an aperture in floor F that registers with the throat of the shoe G. The use of said knife is to sever any large seed that may project above the plate and likely not drop through as its pocket comes in position to drop. A vertical shaft C passes down through the center of the disk a and floor F, and is stopped in the arm Y, secured to the bottom of said floor, and has secured on its lower end the bevel'gear m, which meshes with bevel-gear m. The bevel-gearm is secured on a short horizontal shaft that is boxed at one end in said arm and at its opposite end in a box secured to the beam E on its under side, as shown in Fig. 2, so said bevelgear can mesh with bevel-gear m, secured on the lower end of the said vertical shaft 0. Said horizontal shaft has also secured on it the sprocket-wheel S over which passes the sprocket-chain X is a toothed drive-wheel secured on shaft \V, which is boxed at each end in the lower ends of the arms V and V. Said shaft \V' has secured on it the sprocket-wheel S", which connects with sprocket-wheel S through the medium of the sprocket-chain e. A slot V in arm V furnishes means for adjusting said drivewheel X vertically, so as to cause it to enter the ground any required depth. Said drive-wheel drives the dropping-disk a through the medium of said sprocket-chain and bevel-gear mechanism as the machine travels forward.

In operation the potatoes to be planted are placed in the hopper H and cover the dropping-disk a, and also fill the pockets n in said plate. Said disk at is intended to be of such thickness as to cause these pockets to be deep enough to receive enough seed to form a hill of potatoes. As the said disk revolves, these pockets pass successively over a throat through floor F, (shown in broken lines in Fig. 4,) leading to the throat in the rear part of the shoe G, which is of the ordinary pattern. The knifer extends over said throat and covers a pocket as it is in position over said throat to drop, as shown in Fig. 1, and should seed fail to drop through into said throat when in such position said knife will sever it, so that the portion in the pocket may drop down to the ground through said throat,

to be covered by ordinary scraper-boards Q, arranged in the rear of said shoe. It is intended to have these dropping-disks an interchangeable for others having different-sized pockets for different-sized seed, and for that reason the floor F is removable and shaft 0 is square on the upper end and passes loosely through said plate, so that it may be readily removed for said purpose.

The whole forms a very cheap, durable, and effective machine for the purpose specified.

Having thus described my invention, what; I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows, to wit:

In the potato-planter shown and described, the combination of the adjustable beams E E, bearing a hopper H, provided with dropping-holes in its base, the adjustable arms V V, toothed wheel X, sprocket-wheels S S sprocket-chain e, bevel-gears m m, rotating dropping-disk a, knife r, and the means for vertically adjusting said beams, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

PIIILLIPP J. BABE.

Witnesses:

'lHos. H. HUTCHINS, K. O. HUTCHINS. 

